


Right when you think you know what to say (Someone comes along and shows you a brand new way)

by Coraleeveritas



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-12
Updated: 2013-09-12
Packaged: 2017-12-26 10:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/964646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coraleeveritas/pseuds/Coraleeveritas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Detective Brienne Tarth was supposed to have a night catching up on paperwork, instead she got custody of Jaime Lannister.</p><p>Prequel to It's so easy to make believe ... (but can be read on it's own)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Right when you think you know what to say (Someone comes along and shows you a brand new way)

**Author's Note:**

> Well back in June I wrote a smutty one shot called It's so easy to make believe ..., and this has been sitting half finished since then. Be aware that most of what I know about police work has come from books and movies so I apologise for anything that's not quite right.
> 
> As usual thanks go to my wonderful beta RoseHeart!
> 
> Title is from Something That I Want by Grace Potter.
> 
> All characters belong to GRRM, I'm just borrowing them. Again :)

Brienne Tarth really didn't mind working nights, especially when it meant she could finally clear some of the paperwork that was piling up on her desk. And the fact that she could do it without being hassled by the inane sexually charged comments some of her colleagues tended to throw her way was just the icing on the cake. Not that she actually was a virgin as they presumed, thanks to her college Advanced Chem lab partner, but that didn't mean she was going to open her legs to anything with a dick either. Besides, on the rare occasion when she needed that kind of release, her own hands had proved to be far more capable than Ron Connington's anything.

Captain Stark was taking a well deserved two week vacation and had unofficially left Brienne in charge. Technically Hunt should have been given the authority, he was the longest serving member of the team, though the last time that had happened vital evidence walked out of lock up and a goat ended up tethered outside the station. Brienne hadn't been working in homicide at that point but Hunt's escapades were so well known everyone in the precinct had a version of events to tell newbies.

Though the responsibility was welcomed, the paperwork wasn't. And out of all the departments Brienne had worked in, homicide seemed to be only second to fraud for being reliant on paper trails. 

It wasn't where she had expected to end up, and it certainly wasn't as flashy as the tv made it out to be, but it turned out to be where she felt the most difference could be made.

After she had passed her detective's exam, in record time as her father loved to brag, Captain Stark had taken pity on her. Catelyn saw something in her that Brienne didn't see herself and had assumed somewhat of a mentor role until the younger woman found her feet.

As part of her fast track training Brienne had been given a taste of each of the main departments in the building. Fraud had been interesting for a while, though a lot of the time had been spent indoors, behind a desk which had started to make her twitch. Vice hadn't been so kind, which wasn't really a surprise considering how she looked and special victims made her loose sleep. Too many lost children and dead eyed grieving parents. After the Greyjoy-Poole case nearly pushed her to breaking point Catelyn suggested the homicide department.

And it wasn't as if she didn't get her fair share of grieving parents now, but she had toughened up a lot in the past five years. Plus on the days when things got really bad Brienne could always go to the gym and take out her frustrations on punching bags until she felt better. She would have preferred a partner, someone to react to instead of a stationary object, but the only person who had even half offered was her pain in the ass next door neighbour. And as far as she was concerned spending an excessive amount of time with Jaime Lannister was just asking for trouble.

If it hadn't been for the connections the Lannister name brought, Brienne was pretty sure he would have spent a considerable amount of time in prison over a murder charge brought against him about fifteen years earlier. When he'd moved in she had tried to gain access to the files, mainly to check she shouldn't start taking live ammunition home with her, but found everything conveniently sealed.

Though there were now so many cases calling out for her attention Brienne had temporarily pushed away her curiosity over the angelic faced smirking machine living next door.

"One for you Tarth", Brienne looked up from the case file she'd been emerged in to find two beat cops in front of her. Officers Snow and Tarly had been partners since the latter had joined the force a few months back, both preferring to work nights. In fact Brienne thought she'd never actually seen either of them at the precinct during business hours. Snow waved a board under her nose, indicating she should sign for the latest suspect they'd just picked up. 

She sighed, having hoped that surviving most of the night without a single call meant she could have handed over an empty jail to Hunt when he arrived in three hours.

"What's this one done?" Brienne asked, not looking up at their prisoner.

"Drunk and disorderly", Snow replied with a grimace, "And he's got a mouth on him."

"That's not really my department. You need minor crimes, level four."

She looked up, starting to point down the corridor, but froze before the thought could be followed through. Snow questioned her with his eyes as her signature became a scrawl on the paper, but Brienne shook it off before any of the men could notice.

"Bring him through guys."

An unfortunately familiar grin met her eyes as Jaime Lannister stepped into the department like he was walking off a red carpet. The fact that he managed to look like half a god even in handcuffs would never fail to surprise her.

"Is it just me or do we keep meeting in the strangest of circumstances?"

"Shut your mouth Lannister. Or did you not listen when you were read your rights?"

Usually Brienne would let suspects talk if they wanted to, it made her job easier after all, so she had no idea why those words had left her mouth.

Luckily Jaime ignored her completely, seemingly not caring whether his attempt at small talk would incriminate him. "Are you the only one here tonight? Surely this place should be full?"

She pushed him forward as he stopped to take a long look at the mess on her desk, "It's 4am on a Wednesday morning, we don't usually have a rush of hardened criminals."

"You've got me. The slayer of kings", Jaime laughed, wobbling a little as she indicated he should take the next right hand turn. "I'm a dangerous man."

"It seems you're only a danger to yourself right now."

If she could just stop then Jaime probably would grow bored, but that kind of attitude had never been on the cards with him. Since he'd turned up in her building eight months earlier, with an array of expensive looking furniture and shockingly bad taste in pop music, he had slowly been burying under her skin. "Though with your track record you should know better than to keep doing things that get you arrested."

He raised his cuffed hands, false innocence shining across his face. "I'm rather bad at that don't you think?"

Brienne rolled her eyes and guided him into one of the department's cells. They were generally used to keep suspects off the streets until lawyers could be contacted, but would just as easily hold a drunk playboy until morning. She looked around for her latest partner, a man twice her age who had only passed his detective's exam on the fourth attempt, but glancing at the clock confirmed Brienne's suspicions that he was most likely on a coffee run.

A wave of heat bloomed under her skin as she realised what exactly following regulations meant in that moment.

"I'm supposed ..." Brienne looked down at her hands and then back to Jaime. He may have been inebriated but his brushes with the law had clearly taught him something if his shuffling feet and widening grin was anything to go by.

"Take your time", Jaime purred as she ran her hands over his shoulders and down his arms, reminding herself that this was work and she was absolutely not enjoying the feel of tensing muscles under his clothes.

"I'm not going anywhere", he told her smugly as Brienne moved to pat along his sides, resolutely taking no more time than necessary. Although even her half touches started a gnawing in her gut which wasn't helped by the fact that Jaime had just shivered. 

"May's well be someone gets a thrill out of this", he told her from under half lidded eyes, the pain in her stomach turning into something closer to a flutter. 

She blushed, being reminded of the the continual embarrassment provided by high school and dropped her hands. "You're fine."

Jaime's grin stuttered, though it was still reflected in the deep green of his eyes, and Brienne thought he was enjoying himself a little too much. "What's a good grope between almost friends?"

"We're not friends."

"But you don't deny the grope?" He sent her a heart stopping smile and Brienne wondered what was preventing him from bringing home a new model or socialite every night. Other than his haughty step sister she didn't think she'd ever seen him with a woman his own age. "Don't worry Detective, I think I enjoyed that as much as you did."

"Sit down and shut up." He was pushing her buttons again and Brienne hated it. This was her world and he had no right to barge in.

"Am I now safe to stay here until the wolf is happy I've paid penance for tonight's alleged crimes?"

Brienne didn't tell him Captain Stark was on holiday until the end of the week. "I wouldn't worry too much Lannister. Even if you were sober enough to remember what you did, I'm sure your brother will be here tomorrow with a team of overpaid lawyers."

"And what magic police abilities made you come up with that?"

She locked the cell door, checking it twice before removing the keys from his eye line. "I've seen you drunk before. You were drunk the second time we met."

Jaime thought for a second, making it look like hard work. "The fire escape. You stopped me from falling. I don't think I ever thanked you for that."

Of course he hadn't. The next time Brienne had seen him was following the lake incident, and she'd been too busy trying to stop her clothes sticking to her skin to find time to wipe the smirk off his face.

"I thought you were going to break your neck."

"I didn't think you cared."

All Brienne had done was yank him back into the hallway after he'd woken her up with his drunken ramblings. She would have done it for almost anyone. The old fire escapes had been left over from an earlier model of the building and clearly displayed signs told tenants not to use them under any circumstance. Although Jaime's arrogance had obviously made him think they didn't refer to him.

"Do you know how much paperwork that would have landed me with?" She folded her arms over her chest, and his eyes followed the protective motion, watching him watch her carefully through the bars.

"No one would have known if you'd  decided to push me instead", he winked and laughed a little louder. "I think you like me."

"And I think you're drunk and delusional." Brienne shook her head as he refused to stop looking at her, studying her face as if he was trying to join up all her freckles. "Sleep it off. Someone will be along in a few hours to let you out."

"I'll see you at home then", he made it sound like they were sharing the same space Brienne realised, not just being able to hear each other through paper thin walls. The fact that he probably knew her routines made her shiver. "And if you want I'll bring the handcuffs along since you seem to like having me restrained. It'll make the sex interesting at least."

She hoped her responding glare was enough to inform him that she did not want to have hate sex with him.

"You do realise this is all being recorded? And that sexually harassing an officer is a misdemeanour offence?"

"You're no fun."

"I'm here to work, not as entertainment for your tiny mind."

"Why aren't you working then?"

Brienne thought he, unfortunately, had a point. "Get some sleep Lannister", she muttered again before heading back to finish reading the open case.

"You've got a great ass by the way", Jaime yelled after her and she wasn't sure if he was joking or just more drunk than she'd originally thought. Either way she cursed her partner for his caffeine addiction, finding that when Hunt eventually turned up she still hadn't gotten the damn blond man out of her head.

"Busy night?" Hunt asked as he took in her empty out tray, glancing at the sign in sheet and whistling. "Jaime Lannister? I didn't think he'd be your type."

"What?"

"Well clearly something's got you all wound up. I haven't seen you this on edge since that ridiculous dance with Baratheon at last year's charity ball."

Renly had left not long after that, taking a chunk of her heart along with him to High Garden. She turned to face Hunt, who even without the benefit of a few hours sleep over her was quicker with words. "The night watch brought him in, give him time to sleep off whatever he drank and let him call his brother. I'm going home."

"You know he's never going to take a second look at you right?"

Brienne shook her head in exasperation, "Which would matter if I was actually interested."

"Well if you ever are just let me know. You wouldn't know the difference in the dark."

Although Brienne knew it wouldn't be professional to fall back on profanity her hands still twitched, so to prevent the coming gesture she grabbed her coat and headed towards the comfort of her own bed.

Brienne's dreams that morning were invaded by glinting emeralds, the bite of a familiar laugh and writhing, golden flesh.

**Author's Note:**

> I've probably got more for this universe but it might be Christmas by the time I get around to it!
> 
> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
